‘Lots of tears’ at chapel services, says Westminster chaplain

Fr Pat Browne says MPs and peers were 'very shaken' following the attack on Wednesday

The Catholic chaplain to Parliament said people were weeping at prayer services the day after the Westminster terror attack.

The priest, Fr Pat Browne, said he arrived at Parliament about two minutes after Wednesday’s attack and was sent home by police.

He returned yesterday for three prayer services for those killed and injured when an assailant mowed down people on Westminster Bridge, crashed, and killed a police officer near Parliament before being killed.

Fr Browne conducted the services in Parliament’s Chapel of St Mary’s Undercroft with the Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Speaker’s chaplain and an Anglican.

“There were lots of tears,” Fr Browne told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview. “There were a lot of staff there, members of Parliament, peers. People were very shaken.

“For some it was the first time they could sit down and reflect on what had happened. They didn’t feel, until they got home last night, what had really happened,” he said. “They are very shaken people.”

The priest told CNS that everyone had a different story.

“I spoke to some MPs who were on their way to vote at the time. They heard the gunshots.

“One was walking through from Portcullis House [opposite Parliament] to the chamber when he heard this awful thud. Though he couldn’t see it, it was the car hitting the railings,” he said. “He went on and then the next minute he saw the prime minister being bottled out, then two police officers with guns charging to the gate. Lots of people have stories like that.”

Reverend Hudson-Wilkin preached at the first of the three services, he said, and she reminded the congregation to respond with compassion and solidarity to the evil that had entered their lives “in a very dramatic way”.

“Westminster Parliament is like a village and, when something like this happens, everyone comes together,” Fr Browne said. “It doesn’t matter if you work in the kitchen or you are a cleaner or a member of Parliament, everyone rallies together.”